Clothing Clash

I walked into a meeting the other night after a long day after my internship and half the people in the room turned and stared me down as I entered. I assumed there was something in my teeth or hair but after glancing in my compact mirror I saw all was clear in that department; but the question still hung in the air, why the weird looks? About an hour later, when the meeting finally ended, one of my close friends approached me from across the room and said, "Did you just come from work? You look SO New York today!" A few other people had wandered over and they each agreed that I looked like I'd just stepped out of Central Park. This got me thinking, the clothing of the coasts really do clash, big time.

I grew up wearing a lot of Vineyard Vines and J-Crew, clothing that I have since learned is considered "Preppy" or East Coast. Every so often I'll wear a Vineyard Vines polo out and about in California and my friends will ask me if the Whale emblem is a cheap knock off of Polo. I usually just smile and say, "It's an East Coast brand." Since moving to California I've virtually ditched the name brands and switched to wispy fabrics and comfortable styles. I no longer torture myself with high heels, instead I wear flat shoes and boots; yet when I return home I break out the preppy and ditch the relaxed look. Maybe I should wear a full-fledged East Coast Preppy outfit to my next meeting. I'm sure the looks would be priceless.

East Coast:

West Coast:

Red and Green Clash

New York City and San Francisco are both cities that attract a lot of tourists, both nationally and internationally. They each have some very unique tourist attractions ranging from unusual architectural structures to historic islands. Some of New York's better known attractions include: The Empire State Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Avenue, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park...I could probably fill up an entire blog on New York City's tourist magnets but I think I'll just stop the list here. San Francisco, while vastly smaller, still has a surplus of places that tourists seem to flock to, including: The Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park and Town Hall. I left two of the biggest tourist attractions off the list because, they clash. Literally.

These two attractions are The Golden Gate Bridge, of San Francisco and The Statue of Liberty located off the coast of New York City. The bridge is a very bright red color whereas the statue is a lovely tarnished copper green. Now, I spent a wonderful semester enrolled in a very intense class about Media Aesthetics, and this class taught me, among many other things, about colors and the color wheel. I understand that technically red and green are complimentary colors, but to my eyes, they clash. The only time they should be together is in late December.  

Maybe I'm just groomed to think this way because the only time I ever really see those colors together signify a holiday, therefore I seem to only associate that mix with Christmas, but let be honest here, if you saw a giant red bridge situated next to a large green statue, what would your first thought be? Mine would most likely be along the lines of, "Wow, those two tourist attractions really clash. Who made the decision to put them next to each other?"

 

I guess I should just be happy that The Golden Gate Bridge is in San Francisco and The Statue of Liberty is all the way across the country in New York City.

What's a Farmer's Market?

I was one of those kids growing up who always fought with my parents about eating my fruits and vegetables. I always assumed I would never change and be one of those people who forced down greens preferring meat and carbohydrates; until I moved to California.

My first week in California I discovered a whole new world that I had been missing my entire life; fresh fruits and vegetables. I was suddenly and addict. Employees of the Trader Joe's down the street from my apartment knew me by name because I was a regular customer in the produce section. A few months into living in California, a friend dragged me to a thing call "The Farmer's Market". She described it as a place where lots of farmers go to sell stuff. I had a picture of a flea market for farmers, but what I found blew my mind. The Farmer's Market offered the freshest fruits and vegetables I had ever sunk my teeth into.

This made me question everything I had known about fresh produce and I suddenly wondered if the east coast had farmer's markets too. As it turns out, big shocker here, yes, there is indeed farmer's markets on the east coast, but boy are they a disappointment in my eyes. The farmer's market that I wish I could frequent more here in San Francisco, at the Ferry Building every Saturday, offers everything from fresh cheese and honey to meats and of course produces. The Farmer's Markets I found in New York were very similar to flea markets. They had some produce, but a lot of booths with goods such as homemade jewelry and scarfs. The one thing that New York offers that I've yet to find here is cart after cart offering fresh Falafel's and Hummus. I know there are a few stores that offer this is San Francisco, but there's nothing like shopping for vegetables and scarfs and ending up with a pita full of Mediterranean food.


Ferry Building Farmers Market:

Picture from: http://california-travels.com/tag/san-francisco/page/2/

I'm assuming that New York is lagging in the Farmer Market selection because when it snows it's kind of hard to have an outside market; not to mention the fact that California seems to have some form of agriculture in every county.

NY Falafel's:

Picture from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/2921669978/

The bottom line is that I am now a fruit and vegetable lover. If you had asked 12 year old me if I ever dreamed I'd utter those words I would have scowled at you and asked for a hamburger, hold the tomato, lettuce, onions, etc. The only problem now is that I hope to move back to the east coast one day, and I'm worried I'll fall back into my produce hating ways. Maybe I've simply gone to the wrong places. Has anyone found an amazing fresh produce Farmer's Market's in New York? Any wonderful Falafel cart's at one of the Farmer's Market's in San Francisco?

What do you wear to work?

Someone once told me that it's better to be overdressed than under-dressed. I have lived by this rule for years, but lately I'm beginning to realize that overdressed means two very different things; depending on which coast you happen to be on.

I take muni to work and school everyday, just as I used to take the subway everywhere when I lived on the east coast. I've noticed, while crammed into a busy train full of grouchy commuters who desperately need coffee, that everyone is in very casual attire. Don't get me wrong, they look very nice and somewhat professional, but I find it rare to spot a tie on a man or a suit on a woman. They are dressed in what I refer to as Business Casual. It is perfectly acceptable for a man to wear a pair of nice slacks, a collared shirt and Top-Sider’s to work, just as it is equally acceptable for a woman to wear nice jeans, a slouchy sweater and flat shoes. This would not fly at most businesses in New York City. I specifically remember wearing skirts that fell below the knee, matching blazers with crisp blouses underneath, tights and high heels, to past internships in New York City. I fit in perfectly with my fellow commuters on the Subway. Men wore full suits with subdued ties and women either pant-suits or skirt suits.

I'm not really sure why the coasts have different ideas of business attire, but I think it really affects productivity and personality.  Californians are for the most part comfortable at work and take their time with projects, whereas New Yorkers tend to rush through the day, sometimes rushing projects, to get home and change out of their work clothes (or at least that's what I did). 

Looking nice and professional also seems to command more respect. The other day, for example, I came to work (in San Francisco) in one of my former New York professional outfits. A potential guest for the show I work on came to the office to meet one of the producers. I was standing next to said producer, who was wearing leggings tucked into boots and an over-sized sweater. The guest walked right up to me and said, "You must be (insert producer's name here)" and outstretched their hand. I corrected them and the look on their face was priceless. The look on my boss's..not so much. This was the one time that I felt that it would have been better to have come to work under-dressed instead of overdressed.

Oh well. At least I'll fit in when I move back to New York.


SF Business Casual:

Photo From: http://careers.udayton.edu/interview%20attire/businessCasual.asp


NY Business:

Photo From: http://wjcblog.typepad.com/ink_tank/2009/03/how-to-party-like-a-cpacer.html

Hores

They thought they were spelling Horses.

Alright, so kids misspell words all the time. That’s no big deal. But, adults changing an innocent misspelling of words into a dirty message that they have made into a chain letter? That’s just wrong. I’m starting to think that some people just shouldn't become educators. Shouldn’t this teacher have taught the child the correct spelling instead of taking the time to upload the essay and send it to their friends? I mean, to make it dirty is incredibly far-fetched. “Hores have other Hores friends” Come on people. Not dirty, just sad. Get over it and move on. Stop sending this mean chain letters out.

Glee

In the style of Things people hate, but shouldn't:

People hate the TV show Glee because it’s a bunch of twenty-something’s singing and dancing in a high school pretending to be 18. Get over it! I rarely watch TV but Glee is fantastic! How is it different from any other show on TV? They all have old people pretending to be in high school. They all have teachers that are way too close with their students. They all have that one chick that didn't learn from her pregnancy. At least Glee has songs to sing along with. It is an upbeat show with an attractive cast and just the right amount of controversy. Come on people; get over your fear of being made fun of become a Gleek already! If your friends tease you, they weren’t your friends to begin with.

Clear Skies Clash With Snow

I hate posting blogs back to back but I just had an eye opening experience, the weather. It’s early February and San Francisco is currently 62 degrees Fahrenheit outside with sunny blue skies and only a hint of wind. New York City, on the other hand, is just below zero at 28 degrees Fahrenheit with reports of heavy wind and overcast skies. I know that I have to take into account the fact that it is currently early evening in San Francisco as I write this and three hours later in New York, but it still blows my mind. I grew up with four seasons, assuming that the rest of the country did the same. As a reward for school starting I got to drive to upstate Connecticut with my parents looking at the beautiful foliage ending at an apple farm picking more apples than a family of four could possibly eat. For December break I dug my sled out of the garage and went sledding down the hill at Innis Arden, almost always ending up in the stream from lack of using the breaks on my bright orange plastic sled. When my birthday rolled around in Mid-April the crocuses were just starting to sprout up around town and the first Robbins could be spotted among the tress, returning from their vacations to warmer climates in the snowy months. Finally, when I graduated from another grade in school, generally in mid-June, the humidity would turn my hair into one giant fro. Those were my seasons. I loved it and had no idea that other parts of the country were missing out on the bitter cold winter months and hot and humid summers. That is until I moved to California.

San Francisco comes close to having seasons especially with the raw and rainy months that slowly change into sun and heat, but lately those changes have been absent. To be completely honest, I love it. I can’t even begin to explain the happiness I feel when I roll out of bed, open my window and see blue skies and a big bright sun shining happily; especially when I think of the snow that still blankets my friends on the east coast.

Don’t get me wrong snow is beautiful to look at, but it’s also freezing to be in, dangerous to drive in and gets incredibly ugly in New York City thanks to the wonderful traffic and congestion.

This is a photo shot yesterday of San Francisco:

(View from the Presidio)

And here's a poor quality video shot with my phone...

Here is a photo shot earlier this week of New York City:

(Dirty dirty snow) (Upper West Side)

Now tell me, which one would you rather live in?

Your Art Clashes

Cities are amazing. So far in my 23 years of life I have been fortunate enough experience two of my favorite cities. I grew up 45 minutes outside of New York City, a city that in my opinion is one of the most culturally unique places in the United States. I now live in a very close runner up, San Francisco. As a longtime lover of all things pertaining to art I have noticed myself drawn to graffiti on sidewalks, murals on otherwise unnoticeable buildings and masterpieces hanging in exclusive museums.

The last week alone I have managed to snap pictures of amazing artistic collections in San Francisco and my friends have done the same in New York City. It amazes me that simple things like graffiti on the sidewalks of San Francisco vary so vastly from graffiti found in New York City. I was dumbfounded when I moved west to find a clash in musical tastes and styles, but I thought that art was one of the few things that would be universally similar; an idea that as a former Art History Major sounds incredibly ignorant when put on paper.

Here are just a few of the photos that I found noteworthy:

Sidewalk Art: San Francisco (Above)

Sidewalk Art: NYC (Above)

On the wall at a Muni Station: SF (Above)

On the wall in a subway station: NYC (Above)

Better Beer Blog

The final blog I found that captivated my attention was called “Better Beer Blog” found at: http://www.betterbeerblog.com/

As the name suggests, it is a blog all about beer. With visual aides to back up the facts that they are writing about. I am a beer lover. I have tried beers from around the world and still crave ones from countries I will most likely never visit again, or at least not while the beer companies are still in business. This blog has photos of the beers, pictures of guests enjoying the beer mentioned and an incredibly long list of various beers and the average price each one goes for. It is incredibly informative, visually appealing and an interesting read. I thought I was reasonably well beer versed, until I stumbled upon this blog. Now I have a list of my own of beers to try from the San Francisco area.

The Art Blog

I did a little web surfing and found some blogs that in my opinion, we fantastic. One such blog was entitled “The Art Blog” found at: http://fallonandrosof.blogspot.com/

I am a tiny bit of an art geek. I originally started my college journey as an art history major, but found it to be kind of boring; particularly the memorizing facts about paintings I had no interest in. This blog is about interesting art that I would have loved learning about when I was still contemplating Art History as a major. Perhaps I would have stuck with the major. Luckily, I found Broadcast, and I’m incredibly passionate about it. This blog combines a mix of modern and classic art and ties them together and describes them in a way that any person would understand; not just an art geek. I’m definitely planning on checking back in on this blog frequently.

Things people hate, but shouldn’t

Another blog I found interesting and noteworthy from the class list was “Things people hate, but shouldn’t” found at: http://thingspeoplehatebutshouldnot.blogspot.com/

For starters, the name caught my attention. At times I can be somewhat pessimistic about people's choice of dress or statements that they feel necessary to make. I think this is mainly because they differ from my choices, but I have yet to put any of my thoughts on paper. I rarely even say my opinions out loud. This blog is different. It doesn't state things as an opinion like so many other blogs seem to do, the writer chooses to state everything as a fact. Their opinion is the only opinion, hands down, no argument. I like the authors confidence. That is what won me over above all else.

They thought they were...

There was a great list of blogs provided for us in class that stood out to me as noteworthy, one more so than others, “They thought they were” found at: http://theythoughttheywere.blogspot.com/

I chose this blog for a few reasons, but mainly because I am a very visual learner and they provided visual aid to back up their hilarious comments. This blog is short and sweet and gets to the point. They don’t beat around the bush with nonsense or unnecessary opinions. It caught my attention; and kept it. The fact that they wrote things I’m always thinking but never say out-loud also helps the situation. I can’t begin to write about how many billboard's or 'lost pet' signs I’ve read and wondered “why?” I’m glad someone finally put those thoughts into writing; I just wish they had provided more posts.